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Korea enters full election mode
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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New foreign hitters make quick impact in KBO
New bats in the top South Korean baseball league made a quick impact over the opening weekend of the season, providing a glimpse into what could be an exciting offensive season.The Korea Baseball Organization clubs are now allowed to sign an extra foreign player starting this season. Eight of the nine teams can now have up to three foreigner players, while the expansion NC Dinos, which came into the league last year, can have up to four on their roster for their first two seasons.At least one of
March 31, 2014
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KBO season leaves no clear-cut title favorite
As the baseball cliche goes, hope springs eternal before the start of a new season. Everyone is on the starting blocks with the same blank slate, and there are all kinds of interesting possibilities over six-plus months of the regular season.More often than not, though, reality kicks in soon enough, as contenders begin to put some distance between themselves and pretenders.The 2014 Korea Baseball Organization season, which gets underway on Saturday, may well be a rare exception. The competition
March 28, 2014
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Lim to open KBO season in minors
GYEONGSAN (Yonhap) ― Lim Chang-yong, a former big league reliever who recently joined the Samsung Lions, will begin the 2014 Korea Baseball Organization season in the minor leagues, the club’s manager said Thursday.Lim signed a one-year deal with his former KBO club on Wednesday, only days after getting released by the Chicago Cubs.Though he claimed he was ready to pitch immediately, Lions manager Ryu Joong-il said he wanted to ease the veteran back into action.“I’d like to give him seven to 10
March 27, 2014
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Ryu finds KBO success with lessons learned in U.S.
When right-handed pitcher Ryu Jae-kuk signed with the Chicago Cubs out of a Seoul high school in 2001 and received $1.6 million in signing bonus, it seemed like the hard-throwing teenager was headed for a successful career in Major League Baseball.It didn’t quite pan out that way, though. Ryu spent five years in the Cubs’ minor league system before making his big league debut in 2006, but made only 10 appearances there. He was dealt to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2007, but slowed by elbow problems, he
March 27, 2014
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Lim signs with KBO’s Samsung
SEOUL/GYEONGSAN (Yonhap) ― Free agent right-hander Lim Chang-yong rejoined his former South Korean club Samsung Lions on Wednesday, only days after getting released by the Chicago Cubs, officials here said.The Lions said Lim, 37, agreed to a one-year deal worth 500 million won ($465,000) after holding talks at the team’s minor league training ground in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, about 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The Korea Baseball Organization club and the player have agreed no
March 26, 2014
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SK captain Park Jin-man set to lead
Though he is entering his 19th season in the Korea Baseball Organization, Park Jin-man, shortstop of the SK Wyverns, said he still gets nervous ahead of the start of a new season.“Every year, opening day puts a lot of pressure on me,” Park said on the sidelines of the annual KBO media day in Seoul. The 2014 KBO season will begin on Saturday. “It’s probably more so this year because I know I don’t have a lot of baseball left in me.”Park will don the captain’s “C” on his uniform this year. This wi
March 26, 2014
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The big league way
Justin Yoo, a Korean-American interpreter for the Baltimore Orioles’ South Korean pitcher Yoon Suk-min, has had a front-row seat on the player’s new life in the United States.After nine mostly successful seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization, Yoon signed a three-year deal for $5.575 million with the Orioles last month. Yoon was rushed to the team’s spring training, which had already been underway by the time he inked his contract, and he had to travel to Canada for a few days to receive his
March 25, 2014
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S. Korean pitcher Lim Chang-yong released by Chicago Cubs
South Korean pitcher Lim Chang-yong has been released by the Chicago Cubs, the Major League Baseball team announced Tuesday.The Cubs' official website stated that Lim was "granted his unconditional release" on Monday local time. The 37-year-old is now a free agent.The right-hander with a sidearm delivery made his MLB debut last September, after a call-up from the minors. He had Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ligament in his pitching elbow in July 2012 and spent the first half of 2013 in reh
March 25, 2014
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New faces change KBO landscape
The preseason in the top South Korean baseball league ended on Sunday with crosstown rivals at the top of the standings, while an unlikely offensive hero led major statistical categories.The Doosan Bears finished the Korea Baseball Organization preseason with the best winning percentage of .667, with four wins, two losses and five draws. Their Seoul rivals, the LG Twins, ended in second place after winning five, losing four and tying one, for a winning percentage of .556.The NC Dinos ended up wi
March 24, 2014
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Season of uncertainty ...looms in KBO
As the top South Korean professional baseball league prepares for the 2014 season, its nine clubs are bracing themselves for what promises to be a season full of changes and uncertainty.The Korea Baseball Organization will begin its 33rd season on Saturday with eight of the nine teams in action. The Samsung Lions, as the three-time defending champions, will open their season at home against the Kia Tigers in Daegu, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Teams will each play 128 games.The Lions
March 24, 2014
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Feeling Dodger blue
SYDNEY/SEOUL (Yonhap) ― Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers won his first start of the 2014 season against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Australia on Sunday, throwing five shutout innings in L.A.’s 7-5 win in the second game of the MLB opening series Down Under.Ryu stymied the Diamondbacks at Sydney Cricket Ground, yielding just two hits and one walk while striking out five batters. He also went 1 for 2 with a run scored. He threw 87 pitches, 55 of them for strikes.Ryu opened his sophomore big
March 23, 2014
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Ryu Hyun-jin throws 5 shutout innings to win season debut for Dodgers
Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers won his first start of the 2014 season against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Australia on Sunday, throwing five shutout innings in LA's 7-5 win in the second game of the Major League Baseball (MLB) opening series Down Under. Ryu stymied the Diamondbacks at Sydney Cricket Ground, yielding just two hits and one walk while striking out five batters. He also went 1-for-2 with a run scored at the plate. He threw 87 pitches, 55 of them for strikes. Ryu opened
March 23, 2014
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Pitcher Yoon to begin season in minors
South Korean pitcher Yoon Suk-min will begin his first U.S. season in the minors.The Baltimore Orioles said Wednesday, local time, that they have optioned Yoon to their Triple-A affiliate in Virginia, the Norfolk Tide, where the right-hander is expected to be a starter.Yoon, 27, signed a three-year contract worth $5.575 million in February. He didn’t pitch his first preseason game until last week, after getting his work permit in a drawn-out process that forced him to travel to Canada for a few
March 20, 2014
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Pitchers having painful spring
TAMPA, Florida (AP) ― Jarrod Parker, Kris Medlen and Luke Hochevar are out for the season, Patrick Corbin and Brandon Beachy might join them in the operating room.All over spring training, there’s been an outbreak of wrecked elbows and pained pitchers.Next stop, those dreaded words: Tommy John surgery.“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Tommy John himself said Tuesday. “Tommy John surgery will grow exponentially in the next 50 years.”“I really think there will come a day when if you have 12 pitcher
March 19, 2014
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Rivalry gets early kick start in 2014 MLB season
SYDNEY (AP) ― Suspensions to eight players and a controversial NL West-clinching swimming pool incident last season helped expand a growing rivalry between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks.But Dodgers manager Don Mattingly says he doesn’t expect any serious animosity to carry over from last year when the teams meet to open the major league season Saturday and Sunday at the Sydney Cricket Ground. But he couldn’t rule it out either.The suspensions came after a brawl last June, and
March 19, 2014
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Diamondbacks and Dodgers arrive Down Under
SYDNEY (AP) ― The Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers arrived to a very low-key welcome in Australia on Tuesday for their Major League Baseball season-opening series this weekend after 15-hour flights from the U.S. west coast.The Diamondbacks arrived first at Sydney airport about 6 a.m. local time Tuesday, followed about four hours later by the Dodgers.“It’s great to be here,” said Dodgers’ veteran announcer Vin Scully.There were only a few autograph seekers to meet both teams, unlike r
March 18, 2014
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Dodgers, D-Backs off to Australia
SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (AP) ― “G’donya” to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers.They’re off to Australia to open the major league baseball season.Both teams played a spring training game Sunday, then boarded their chartered planes for a flight of 15 hours or so to Sydney.Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick, who never has been to Australia, called it “a great adventure.”The teams opened spring training early to get ready for the trip. When they return, they’ll have a handful of spring games
March 17, 2014
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Yoon shines in Orioles debut
SARASOTA, Florida (AP) ― South Korean right-hander Yoon Suk-min threw one shutout inning in his debut with the Baltimore Orioles, who got a home run from Chris Davis in a 2-1 victory over a New York Yankees’ split-squad Saturday.The 27-year-old Yoon didn’t exactly face a Murderer’s Row of Yankees, who sent most of their stars to Panama for an exhibition game.Yoon entered in the seventh with the score tied at 1. He gave up a single to Ramon Flores, then retired Mason Williams and Kyle Roller on f
March 16, 2014
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New face emerges as unlikely hero for Nexen in preseason
A virtually unknown outfielder has emerged as an unlikely hero for the Nexen Heroes so far this preseason in the Korea Baseball Organization.Kang Ji-kwang, a 23-year-old pitcher-turned-outfielder, has taken the league by storm, barely a week into the preseason. On Thursday, the right-handed batter belted two home runs and drove in three runs as the Heroes defeated the SK Wyverns 6-0. Both of the long balls were hit off SK’s former Major League Baseball starter Jo-Jo Reyes.Kang now leads the leag
March 14, 2014
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Underachieving righty to start first game at Kia’s ballpark
An underachieving right-hander was tabbed Thursday to start the first official game at the new stadium for the Kia Tigers in the top domestic baseball league.The Korea Baseball Organization club said Song Eun-beom will start the preseason game against the Doosan Bears on Saturday at the new Gwangju-Kia Champions Field.The ballpark is named after the Tigers’ home city of Gwangju, about 330 kilometers south of Seoul. The Tigers as a franchise have the most championships in the KBO’s 32-year histor
March 13, 2014